Yoga: moving, resting, calming

Students can release the stresses of school, work and relationships by dropping in for one-hour yoga sessions at Kwantlen’s Blossoming Lotus Studio.

Yoga continues to expand as a popular trend in the city and suburbs, and for good reason. You may not think you’re the yoga type, capable of devoting an hour to stretching and wearing spandex, but you’ll be glad you did.

Unlike watching TV, kick-boxing, playing video games, smoking or drinking, yoga works to relax your body and mind, by focusing on steady breathing and holding unique body postures and poses. These special exercises are designed to increase flexibility, enhance overall posture and, most importantly, calm the mind.

“It can be really stressful being in the environment of trying to learn and having to be at deadline constantly. So I hope to provide a relief,” says David Yao, 26, who teaches the class.

Although there are various levels of ability and technique, participate in one class and you’ll feel the effects. The first 40 minutes are spent synchronizing movements, which gradually become more technical and enduring. It’s not unusual to break a sweat. Then the last twenty minutes are focused on resting and laying in posture.

“I’m inspired to relax after a long day of school,” says Robyn Lord, 23, who studies graphic design. After a yoga session, Lord says she feels refreshed, centered and that her head is clearer.

“That’s what yoga’s really for. To calm the mind down and to see clear as to what your own body needs,” says Yao.

During these insanely hectic times, it’s important to have a positive outlet, as well as it is to try new activities.

“Between school and work and studying, there’s not much time to do anything, like go to the gym. So having a yoga session between classes is really good to relax and actually do something active,” says Darriya Plessovskikh, 22, who studies accounting.

Kwantlen’s classes are beginner friendly.

“It’s calm, soothing and relaxing,” says Plessovskikh.

Classes are held on Mondays (11:55 a.m.-12:55p.m. & 1-2p.m.) and Wednesdays (5:15-6:15p.m.). Cost is $25 – $35 per/month. For more information about yoga and intramural activities, contact the KSA.

Kickboxing: staying in shape, feeling safe

Every Monday and Wednesday at 4 p.m., Kwantlen students are meeting at the Blossoming Lotus Studio for an hour of good, wholesome kickboxing.

You don’t even need any formal or prior kickboxing experience. “I’m taking these classes to get in shape and because it sounded cool. I’ve played soccer for 12 years so I needed something different and I didn’t want another team sport,” says Rachel Moir, 18, who’s in general studies.

The session begins with a 12-minute warm-up that includes the jumping jacks, stars, burpies, climbers, dive-bombers, push-ups and on-the-spot running. After that, you learn a basic fighting stance followed by a left-jab-right-hook (one-two) combination.

“It makes me feel a lot safer walking around Vancouver,” says Jena Renwick, 21, who studies fashion design and technology.

The instructors, Milo and Marcy Hilario, who have been kickboxing for 12 years, demonstrate and explain the techniques in terms that are easy to understand.

Then you strap on the gloves and pads and partner up and the real fun begins. Simulating a three-minute round, you practice the one-two combination with 30-second intervals of continuous punching. Your endurance is truly put to the test.

You alternate three rounds each with your partner, while Milo and Marcy provide tips for all the students, before lining up to learn knee strikes.

You repeat that routine 20 times into the air. Then you’re back with your partner, executing an aggressive jab-hook-knee combination into the pads.

The kickboxing element of the class is capped off with three minutes of non-stop right and left hooks, as well as upper-cuts, with your partner and pads. If you’re on the floor after that, it’s okay. The session ends with a three-minute abdominal workout.

“The workouts involve your shoulders. You’ve got to keep your shoulders up the whole time. Then your abs start hurting. For an hour, they pack a lot in,” says Corbin Mountford, 19, who studies business administration.

The gloves, pads and music are supplied by the instructors. Everyone trains in bare feet and comfortable fitness attire. Classes are cumulative, so the more you go, the more you learn. Membership is $30 a month or $6 for a drop-in class; you can register on-line or visit the KSA office for more information.

“It’s a great sport to learn and gives you lots of confidence,” says Renwick.

Smoke up, life’s short?

A new bylaw went into effect on Sept. 1, prohibiting smokers from lighting up in public parks and on beaches in Vancouver — excluding Wreck Beach, of course.

In a string of initiatives to deter smoking, the new ban is just another drop in the bucket. The bucket, however, is getting pretty full. How long will it be until the right to smoke a cigarette in Vancouver is abolished?

Then again, if the impact of smoking in Vancouver is so harsh and uncompromising, perhaps there’s a greater issue at stake. Why not just make it illegal?

Smoking does appear to be falling into a category of socially unacceptable behaviour, akin to shooting heroin and smoking meth. These days, the satisfaction from inhaling a cigarette in public is rivaled by the ethical judgments of a preeminent non-smoking community.

Besides, how long would it really take for devout smokers, and casual smokers alike, to kick the habit if cigarettes were taken off the market? There’s no shortage of healthy alternatives readily available to fill the void: yoga, swimming, coffee, breathing fresh air. The list goes on. Sadly, they don’t possess all the toxic qualities cigarettes do, and are therefore significantly less attractive pastimes. But why not give it a shot?

Indeed, cigarettes have been around for eons. But change is inevitable. So rather than looking at the new bylaw as a retraction of some inherent spiritual liberty, let’s consider the possibility that the concerned, health-conscious and politically active are genuinely trying to save us from ourselves, one step at a time.

• • •

Here’s what a few students on the Richmond campus had to say about the issue:

Marianna Vilchinsky
Age: 19
Program: General studies
Smoker: Yes

“I think it’s good. If you don’t smoke, I don’t think you should be surrounded by it. But I don’t think it should be banned because it’s still your personal choice.”

Cassidy Scott
Age: 18
Program: Journalism
Smoker: No

“It’s not even politically correct to smoke.”

Kimiya Shokoohi
Age: 20
Program: Journalism
Smoker: Casual

“As a social smoker, I feel like we smoke when we’re having a good time, when we’re out at beaches, when we’re out at parks and together there. So it kind of takes away that activity. It does take away people’s right to smoke, as a smoker and as an individual. Who is anyone to tell me what I can and can’t do?”

Megan Mcnee
Age: 20
Program: Interior design
Smoker: Yes

“I think it’s getting to the point where it could be illegal, in the next decade or so. I wouldn’t say smoking is irreplaceable, but it’s better than doing hard drugs. I suppose you could get physically active, but I prefer smoking.”

Veronica Fraczyk
Age: 26
Program: Accounting
Smoker: No

“I don’t think it’s going to do much. People are going to smoke if they want to. It’s a very serious addiction, and I think they’ll find a way to get around it. I would absolutely vote to get [smoking] off the market.”

A turbulent journey to the heart of the Olympic dream

Red spray paint, broken glass, long lineups and one dead. 

There’s no question, as the city erupted into a magnificent state of chaos and high fives, the Olympic experience manifested from day one with the ferocity of a thousand hippos. 

The past two weeks in Vancouver have been a wild demonstration of unfettered patriotism and drunken delight — oh yeah, and of superior athletic performance.

For the first time ever, I have witnessed people from across Canada truly unite under the influence of two colours and one flag.

For those two Olympic weeks, nothing else seemed to matter.  As long as you were drinking beer and cheering for Canada, you belonged. 

By day three, I’d lost my credit card, partied with a millionaire, wore a beer tray on my head at the Heineken House courtesy of a Dutch bartender, slept on a bathroom floor, missed a day of work, witnessed an Olympic protest and pondered the merits of fascism. 

Strangely enough, I wasn’t sure how it all fit together. 

What was the Olympic dream?

In the second week, when America defeated Canada in game two of men’s hockey, a fleeting wave of panic rolled over the red-and-white homeland, like a realization that its national identity could indeed be mortal.

But it was a divine fallacy solved by fate and Sydney Crosby in the gold medal game between the two rival teams.

The universe can be enigmatic sometimes, but it never lies. 

The gold medal in men’s 2010 Olympic hockey is the answer and solution to any existential question or identity crisis any Canadian with a hangover may have.

At least for the next four years. 

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